On Thursday, we went to the Taipei Children’s Museum of Transportation and Communication which was really a mini amusement park with a few displays on trains, planes and automobiles.
The ball room was damp and smelled like a gym.
After a lunch at Din Tai Fung, we went to the Su Ho Paper Museum where we all made a sheet of purple paper.
In the evening, I had the chance to have coffee with two of my three Taiwan cousins which now means that I’ve met them all!
This is a terrible picture but my cousins are the really tall guy and the girl with the curly hair and jean jacket. The guy in the white shirt my cousin’s boyfriend and the woman holding the baby (our 2nd cousin – she’s 2 and a cutie, Donald!) is his wife. The cousin who got married over Chinese New Year was the one we met during Christmas of 2002.
My cousins don’t know any English so we had an hour or so of very stilted conversation, but I did it! I called and arranged our meeting in Chinese and sat there and tried to make conversation. I love how my Chinese has improved while living in Asia. I have no problem asking for directions and speaking with cab drivers and ordering meals and having fun with friends. It made traveling around Taipei a breeze.
A moment about logistics – we decided to not bring the stroller with us on this trip. Taiwan is not very stroller friendly, lots of narrow steps and uneven sidewalks and we didn’t rent a car and we had a bunch of luggage so we didn’t want an extra thing to carry around. Jeremy carried her a lot – at 35 pounds Jeremy is still OK with hauling her around for half a mile. It’s too tough for me to do. There was a lot of difficult behaviors to deal with, especially at meal time in restaurants, but we managed to be cheerful through all the “oo-oo-ooing” from Edda and the squirming from Vincent to really enjoy this vacation.
OK, Secret Pal – round 10! Here we go…
Hi Secret Pal! I can’t wait to get to know each other over the next few months. I love any sort of natural fiber – both plant and animal, I’ve only worked with linen and wool so far and I just started my first cotton project. I do have a handy-dandy needle holder and I do have a winder – but not a swift. I’m a intermediate knitter, I’ve knitted a lace shawl and some pairs of socks and a top-down raglan sweater, but I haven’t yet really seamed a garment yet. Finishing is definitely intimidating to me. I don’t spin, but I do have a spindle and some natural roving that my parents got me for Xmas that I haven’t used yet. I’d like to learn entrelac and I’m always looking for patterns for projects! I love IK, but I don’t have a subscription yet! I look forward to your knitting surprises!
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Scientific name: Stachytarpheta indica
Common name: Snakeweed
Location: Singapore
Hi Secret Pal! I sent you an email, but maybe you didn’t get it. The only other thing I was wondering is are there any colors that you love or hate?
🙂